“Today is Ekadashi,don’t cook rice”
“Do not eat non-veg on Tuesdays and Thursdays”
“Cover your head while praying in a temple or a gurudwara”
“Plant a Tulsi in your home. Light a Diya in the mornings and evenings”
“In a puja, the wife should be sitting on the right side of the husband”
“Do not wash clothes on Amavasya and Thursdays”
“Avoid getting your hair cut on Tuesdays”
“Do not buy iron articles on Saturdays”
These are some of the instructions that are the integral part of the conversations I have with my Mom on phone. Some of the instructions I follow, some I forget despite reminders, some I ignore and some I tailor-make them as per my convenience.
Like, an impromptu outing and a bad hair day will surely lead me to a hair wash immaterial of the day of the week. Once, I distributed packs of chips and Frooti to small girls coz I could not make the mandatory “Poori, Halwa and Chane” on Ashtami pooja during the Navaratras!
I wonder what would be the state of affairs of my fellow modern, educated, empowered,independent and self reliant women?
I am sure those who stay in joint families might still be following these rituals and may be much more than that. But God should surely help those who are all alone in a new city/state or even country.
Today there is a huge gap between the modern lifestyles and the traditional rituals. Its difficult (though not impossible) to follow these traditions, even if we want to. Late nights (at work or even at home), mad rush of the mornings, modern way of life makes it tricky to follow our age old customs.
By the way how many of us would have the Hindu calendar or Panchang to tell us about the Amavasyas or Poornimas or Ekadashi or Chauth!??
So I guess, we may not be able to pass on our age old traditions and rituals to our children even if we want to coz we ourselves have half baked knowledge on them and have never practiced them in totality to preach the same!
“Please forgive me God” is my most frequent prayer for my religious inadequacies!
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One Response
i keep reminding kshitij and now you too – remember that god would forgive you – for anything. that’s his business….